Winter Workshops

Christmas in California

Always keep learning. It keeps you young. Patty Berg
Here's to being young!

Polymer Clay 101

Foldout Book Workshop

Now that the holiday shows are coming to an end, workshops are going to be in full swing. We are starting off with a Polymer Clay 101 Class and a Foldout Book Class. We've already had a couple of classes this month. Next year I'll be teaching a Tempered Glass Class, and a Polymer Clay Mosaic Class, along with many others. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and learning new things this coming year. If you live on the Central Coast and want to join us, let me know.

Tempered Glass Artwork Reflectors of Light

Judy's House

Butterfly Journey

Under the Sea

Joy in the Spirit

Evening Bloom

Sunflower

Modern Cross

Works in Progress

These are a few of the tempered glass and polymer pieces that I have finished this last year. They are all matted and framed. Most of the mosaic sizes are 16x20 inches. I love working with this medium and have many ideas I look forward to trying out next year. I'm also starting to teach workshops. I had my first one today,it was a lot of fun.

Vintage Ornaments

Vintage Paper Ornaments

Polymer Clay Glitter Hearts

Fabric Journals and Polymer Clay Heart

Hearts and Birds

Polymer Clay Rabbit Ornaments

I've been pretty busy getting ready for all the up coming  holiday shows. If you live on the central coast of California, stop by and say hi. I'll be at the Halcyon Holiday Show behind the Halcyon Post Office on Nov. 13th and 14th. The weather should be warm and sunny. Hope to see you there.

Scarey Mr. Garbageman

The stories you are about to read are true. The names have not been changed, but maybe they should have been. When I was a child, I was deathly afraid of the garbageman. Ok, you can stop laughing now. If I was playing outside and would hear the far off sound of that crunching, munching machine, I would drop what I was doing and run into the house. As I look back, maybe it was the truck, and not the man, I was afraid of. As a child, I spent a lot of time at the Chavez's house. The Chavez's were more family than friends. Their kids ranged in age from older than my mom, to the same age as my younger brother. I loved to spend time at their house and practically worshiped Bobby and Barbara, the twins that were five years older than me. One day, the three of us were playing outside and you guessed it, the distant sound of the garbage truck was in the air. I ran inside the house to one of the back bedrooms. Suddenly I hear Barbara screaming, she was yelling that the garbage man had her! I bravely ran out the front door nearly taking the screen off it's hinges in the process. I continued down the street as fast as my little legs would carry me, after the big white munching truck, yelling, "Let her go, let her go!" The twins come after me laughing their heads off. They had been hiding behind the couch, while I was running to their rescue. They treated me just like a younger sister. They could torment me to no end, but had my back if somebody else was picking on me. Well, with the exception of this one time. We were trick or treating a few houses down the block from their house. After innocently knocking on the door and saying, "Trick or treat?", a full-fledged scary witch appeared before us. Of course, I was the closest to the door, and therefore, the witch. As soon as I started backing up, she grabbed my arm and started pulling me into the house. While she was pulling on my arm, B and B were pushing me from behind. I started screaming and threw my bag of candy in the air. My mom, who was standing nearby, came running. She told me later that anytime she sees candy corn, she is reminded of this incident, because there was candy all over the witch's doorstep by the time I calmed down. The witch felt really bad and tried to replace the dropped candy, but I wasn't having it.  I eventually forgave Bobby and Barbara, and went back to worshiping them. I once was electrocuted with these two, but I've rambled on much too long. Let me know if you want to hear that story. It's very shocking!

Messy House Full Heart

This is Monday morning after Open Studio Encore weekend. I'm sitting here in my jammies writing this post and feeling so thankful for the great studio tour this year. I have at least a million other things I could and should be doing, but I first wanted to thank everyone that stopped by my studio this year. I really want to thank those that came by a second time and brought a friend(s) back with you. I really feel like I met some people that I'm going to be life-long friends with. I'm also looking forward to teaching my workshops, and getting to know you all better. Last night, I counted 96 names on my sign up list for classes. We'll have a lot of fun and all learn new things from each other. Well, I need to get up and at least make the bed, or maybe just get back into it. I can get started putting the house back together tomorrow. Today, I might just kick my feet up and take it easy. For those of you that know me, know this is just nice talk. I have way to many things bumping around in my head to just take it easy. But whatever I do today, I do it with a full heart, because I have the greatest job in the world! I also would like to thank Artsobispo, my business would not be what it is without the Open Studio Tour.

My Love Bucket Is Full

I'm feeling a bit rusty, and it's not from our recent rain. It's been so long since my last blog, I'm not sure what to say, except a big fat juicy thank you to all my visitors during "Open Studio Tour" last weekend. It was a raving mad crazy time, and I had a blast.  I hope you did too. Those of you that were crazy enough to enter the world of creation that I call my life, understand why I haven't blogged in a few weeks. I was busy transforming my home into a complete retail space. I know it looks like a lot of work, but I really enjoy doing this. My family on the other hand, are not to crazy about it. They haven't been able to eat from a table top in over a week. I also put blue painters tape across the guest bathroom after cleaning it to keep them out. They never seem to remember that there are two other bathrooms in the house they can use. Thanks again to you that came to my studio, for your kind words, love, and support. Thanks also to Sharon for your thoughtful letter and to Mark and Karen for the angel pictures. My love bucket is full. It's people like you, that keep people like me, going. I'm still in "open studio" mode. We are open for encore weekend the 23rd and 24th, if you feel like dropping by. I might even pull the blue tape off the bathroom door for you.

PS:   Congratulations to "onlyincambodia" for winning the comment drawing on my last post.

We Have A Winner!

Congrats to Tuscan Road Designs, you are the winner of the September drawing. Yay for Holly! Annie is holding your artwork, hope you like it.It is a 10x10 inch canvas with handmade polymer clay tiles. The tiles are hand sewn onto the canvas with loving care, just for you. For those of you that didn't win, I'll be having another drawing soon. It was probably more fun for me, than it was for you. I've been wondering all month who was going to win. Now we know. Thanks to all the people that read my posts. I enjoy blogging more then I thought I would. To tell you the truth, I thought it would be close to torture, but it's not. I guess it's good to jump out of the box and try something new. I used the word "jump" because I never walk into something new. I always go both feet at once, and at full speed. I'm not sure why I do it that way, I just do. It would make more sense, to take things slower at times. But that's just not the way I roll. People that are jumpers have more skinned knees than those that walk. But when a jumper sticks their landing, nothing feels better. Tell me what new thing you have jumped into, and did you end up face first or on your feet? Just for your info, I've landed on my face more often than my feet. The more I jump, the more I increase my odds on a good landing. Everyone that posts a comment on this blog, will go into a second drawing for another prize.

Please Don't Kill Another Bougainvillea!

Life is a little crazy right now. It's always that way, but now it's off the hook crazy. I'm trying to make enough product for two shows I have this weekend. Plus, I have Open Studio Tour in three weeks.I'm so thankful that north county has the first weekend this year. That gives me an extra week. It might take me that long just to clean my house! For those of you that don't know me well, I'm a perfectionist, everything has to be perfect for open studio: the house, the yard, the food and don't forget lots of art and gifty things to buy. Just today, I was thinking that it would be a lot less work if I got a real job. But what can I do? Well, I can take nothing and turn it into something. I'm not sure there's a lot of call for that kind of thing, but if there is, I'm your girl. I could get a job in an office, but I'm not that great at taking phone calls and you don't even want me around a copy machine. Whenever someone hands me a paper and says those terrifying words to me "Will you make some copies?", I just break out in a cold sweat. It usually takes me three times to get the paper in the correct way. So I have to quickly stuff the upside down sideways copies in my pocket, so no one will be wise to my office skill deficiencies. People sometimes say to me "Is there anything you can't do?" My answer is, "Yeah, a lot!" I can't make copies, as you all now know, and I have planted about 50 bougainvillea plants over the last 30 years, and none of them lived. I'm also not a great typist and I tend to forget numbers, as in phone, license,and social security. I probably should stick with what I do best, making something out of nothing. I will be busy doing this over the next few weeks. Come by and visit my studio in October, and make sure you notice my freshly planted bougainvilleas.

New Art Quilt

I started with a 16x20 inch canvas and painted it with a golden wash.


I decided to tone down the gold with more paint. Next I drew spirals with pencil and then layered torn paper. Torn strips of silk were sewn down along with wool roving. Everything is hand sewn onto the canvas.



The best is always left for last. The whole piece is covered in seed beads and sequins. I also did a lot of hand stitching as the last detail.

Whimsical Fall Tour

These whimsical and brightly colored ornaments are made out of polymer clay, silver leaf, and recycled sari silk. Look for them soon on my Etsy Shop. They would make a great gift by themselves, and an even better one tied on the outside of a package or around a bottle of wine.


"The greatest achievements were at first, for a time, dreams.
The oak sleeps in the acorn." James Allen

I once told an artist friend of mine,that I couldn't draw a tree to save my life. She laughed and said that's funny, because you put leaves in all your artwork. I had never thought of it that way. I guess I thought it was easier to tackle a few leaves instead of a whole tree. That conversation took place a few years ago,but I'm still influenced by leaves and you will often find them in my artwork. I have always loved trees. As a child, one of my favorite things to draw were weeping willow trees. I remember going on a family vacation and taking a sketch pad and a box of crayons along for the ride. By the time my family had traveled back home, I had filled most of the pages. The only drawings I remember now are one of a willow tree, and one of a turquoise and lime green mushroom.What can I say? It was the 70's. I still take notice of trees while out driving, but what I really love are the individual leaves that make up those trees. They come in so many shapes, sizes, and colors, just like people. Recently, I saw an RV driving down the highway. The back of the motor home had a sign taped to the window that read, "Bill's Dream Fall Tour". I got a tear in my eye, thinking of that person setting off on a trip that he had probably been looking forward to most of his adult life. Leaves, what a small, beautiful, and detailed part of God's creation. I have loved them since my early crayon rubbings as a kid, to the whimsical ornaments you see hanging from my dinning room chandelier. It's funny, I now create polymer clay and tempered glass trees. Earlier this year, I even had one of these pieces featured on the cover of a local newspaper magazine. So one day you just might see me picking up brightly colored leaves on the side of the road or maybe you will pass an RV that is sporting a hand lettered sign that reads, "Mitch and Cindy's Dream Tour". Watch out, I might be the one driving!

Home

What is home? When asked this question, a different image will come to each of us. It can mean walking through the door on Thanksgiving, and smelling your Grandmother's cooking. To some, it might be the laughter of children. Whatever home means to you, it usually is a place of sanctuary. A place you can be yourself and be accepted for that self you are. Home is where your heart is, or where your treasure is stored. Home is the place we all seek, and our hearts are warmed when we find it. Home can be a house in the middle of the block. It can be the state or country you were born in. Sometimes, home can even be a place of mind. To me, home is the place you come back to after vacation. No matter what great things you experienced or saw while you were away, there is nothing that compares to walking through the front door, and feeling that sense of home. There is nothing that can compete with the comfort of your own bed. No wake up call is as affective as your four legged child putting a stinky dog toy in your face at six in the morning. I'm blessed to live in a beautiful house, that in fact is, in the middle of the block. I have also lived in apartments, and once, in an old house that would have fallen down, if the termites had all let go of their hands at the same time. Home is more than a roof over your head. Home is family, love, and acceptance. Home may not always be peaceful, if mine is any example. But I usually find peace there, none the less. What does home mean to you?